An old battle and a new dinosaur are stars of tonight’s Historama.
Quick-thinking help Russia secure its borders
On this day in 1240, Russia defeated Sweden in the Nevskaya battle.
Back then, Russia was a patchwork of separate princedoms. In addition, it had been weakened by the Mongol invasion, which had only ended in 1238.
The enemy’s master plan was to exploit this weakness to its advantage so Sweden, working together with Germany, planned a blitz attack.
However, when they got close enough, the Russians attacked first – and won the battle.
This secured the Russian border from the Swedish side.
Explorers find a new dinosaur on the outskirts of Russia
On this day in 2003, a Russian-Belgian expedition discovered the remains of a new dinosaur. The discovery was made in the Amur region in Russia’s Far East.
The skeleton belonged to a helmet-headed hadrosaurus – a duckbilled, plant-eating dinosaur. It was more than 12-meters long and weighed nearly five tons while alive; that is, 65 million years ago.
The Amur region has turned out to be a vast dinosaur graveyard where many different species from different periods have been discovered.
Read more on this event in Russian history